20/02/2018 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins,

this is Outside Source.

We start in Syria. More than 100

civilians reported to have died

today as they did yesterday.

As government forces attack the last

rebel stronghold near Damascus.

In the North of the country forces

have entered the Kurdish

stronghold of Afrin -

bringing the battle

to the Turkish border.

Oxfam reveals it's investigating 26

more cases of alleged

sexual misconduct.

The charity's boss admits thousands

have stopped making donations

because of the scandal.

He had this to say.

I am sorry.

We are sorry for the damage that

Oxfam has done both to the people

of Haiti but also to wider efforts

of aid and development.

And a developing story...

Justin Forsyth says there were

claims of inappropriate behaviour

was he was out the charity Save the

Children.

The Syrian Government continues

to bombard the rebel enclave

Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.

Activists say more than 100

civilians were killed today.

127 civilians were killed yesterday.

Thousands have died since the siege

began five years ago.

Eastern Ghouta is particularly

important because it's

the last major rebel

stronghold near Damascus.

Those rebels hold most of it.

They control another area to the

south of Damascus.

This area though is controlled

by the Islamic State group.

All of Eastern Ghoota is surrounded

by government forces -

and they want it back.

These pictures show how

it's going about that.

The UN has issued this statement

on the situation there.

It says it is blank.

In a footnote it says...

We no longer have the words

to describe children's

suffering and our outrage.

Do those inflicting the suffering

still have words to justify

their barbaric acts?

The answer to that question is...

They do.

The Assad regime maintains

its fighting Islamist terrorism -

and that it tries to

avoid civilian casualties.

Its action tell a different story.

Let's hear from from

someone inside Ghouta.

Firas Abdullah is from

the Ghouta Media Centre

which is affiliated with the rebels.

More than 77 civilians

today were killed by

the continuous bombardment.

Since yesterday until today.

We now have 149 civilians killed

by the continuous bombardment.

The jets are Russian.

They are a squadron of six jets,

with four helicopters belonging

to the Assad regime army.

The drones are capturing

the perimeters and the civilian

neighbourhood of Eastern Ghouta.

We have over 200 mortars dropped

on the civilian neighbourhood.

In addition, more than 90

air strikes and about

50 explosive barrels

on civilians neighbourhoods.

barrels on civilian neighbourhoods.

The people here are

mostly in shelters.

Others are in their homes.

They come here crying,

from their homes.

It is so serious, war conditions

here in Eastern Ghouta now.

You heard Firas there talk

about Russian bombers.

Russia and Iran are backing

the Syrian government -

as are Hezbollah fighters from

Lebanon.

Let's hear more about what is

happening in eastern Ghouta.

Lina Sinjab in Beirut.

What we're hearing from people now

is that they are trying

to hide in basements,

whatever basements are available

so that can take cover

from the continuous shelling.

We are hearing that today

the government and the air force has

resumed the attack on Eastern

Ghouta.

People are pleading for help.

The UN made an announcement

that this should stop immediately.

The International Committee

for the Red Cross also called

on this to stop immediately.

To protect civillians.

So far the last 24 hours

have been the worst that

Eastern Ghouta has faced in years.

People are really struggling

to seek safety basically.

The attacks yesterday

targeted for hospitals,

The attacks yesterday

targeted --four hospitals,

the main roads that would allow

people to run away or

ambulances to rescue.

That is causing a higher number

of injured and a higher

number of people dead.

Unfortunately for Syrians

on the ground and for

civilians trapped there,

the government and Russia

have the upper hand.

Russia yesterday announced

that we are probably seeing another

scenario that we have seen

in Aleppo last year.

People are worried that they are

going to face the same destiny

and be forced out of their town.

What we're seeing and yesterday

is a big escalation from government

forces and that is only telling us

that this could be the last

push towards the end

of the situation in Eastern Ghouta.

At what price and at

what type of end will it be?

It will be a horrific end

for civilians there.

Let's stay in Syria to update

you on Afrin in the north.

This is an area controlled by Kurds

- and being attacked by Turkey.

Yesterday we told you how pro-Syrian

government forces were promising

to enter the area to help the Kurds.

Since we last spoke

that's now happened.

These are pictures from earlier.

Syrian state media is calling

them Popular Forces -

though it's far from clear

who these men are.

We can be sure they were met

with artillery fire from Turkey.

This is a more detailed map of Syria

showing territory. The green area is

controlled by the Syrian government.

The mauve is controlled by the

Kurdish forces. Turkey considers all

of these Kurdish forces terrorists.

That is why it has began an

offensive to drive them out of

Afrin. It is very close to the

border of Syria. -- Turkey.

Syria considers that to be an attack

on its sovereignty -

although it's worth saying

there is a long list of countries

Onur Erem from BBC Turkish

Service with the latest.

They are trying to control all of

offering including the city centre.

That is according to the president.

Today they responded by artillery by

an effort from the pro-government

militias of Syria. We don't know

exactly who they are at the Turkish

state media calls them pro-regime

terrorists while the Syrian

governments call them the popular

forces. Last week we heard that they

are in negotiations with the why P&G

and the Syrian government -- YPG.

Turkey have said they will not stop

unless all of Afrin is under Syrian

control. And they will get involved

in any type of buffer zone that will

be set between Turkey and the white

PG -- YPG.

Is every possibility of a

confrontation with the Turkish

government under Syrian government?

Apparently the YPG have told that

these militias are coming to help

them with their fight against

Turkey. But according to the Turkish

president, the Syrian government and

the army are coming to Afrin and

getting control of all of the city

centre including its institutions.

What is Turkish public opinion on

what is the Turkish military is

doing in Afrin?

According to polls,

the Turkish public is supporting the

government here. They are supporting

the operation. It depends on the

poll but some of them are showing 70

and some of them are showing 80%. We

also must keep in mind that it is

very hard for people to express

their discontent because lots of

people, hundreds, even more than 500

of them were arrested because of

tweets and social media posts. That

have criticised this operation.

Oxfam have been giving evidence in

the British Parliament. We will talk

about that in a moment. But the

scandal around Oxfam is jumping

across to other charities. Save the

Children is now in the news. It

concerns its former chief executive,

a man called Justin Forsyth who now

has a role in the United Nations. He

has faced some complaints of

inappropriate behaviour. Let's get

more of this from the newsroom. Most

people hearing this for the first

time so please take from the

beginning.

This is Justin Forsyth,

the former chief executive of Save

the Children. He has been accused of

sending inappropriate texts and

comments to young females of staff

about what they were wearing and how

they look. This led to complaints

being made. He has apologised

unreservedly. Apparently those

complaints were not formal and he

has not been accused of sexual

harassment. As you say, since

leaving Save the Children, he has

gone on to become a very senior

executive at Unicef which is the

UN's children organisation.

Brendan

Cox this weekend admitted that he

had acted inappropriately sometimes

at Save the Children.

Exactly. It is

two people now and Save the

Children. Brendan Cox said he made

mistakes at Save the Children and

admitted inappropriate behaviour.

But he has denied allegations of

sexual assault. In the meantime he

has quit us majorities he set up in

the aftermath of his wife's death.

Save the Children are beginning a

internal review.

We will bring you

more information as we know it.

Another gruelling day for Oxfam.

It's admitted 7,000 people have

cancelled regular donations

since the Haiti prostitution story

broke 10 days ago.

We heard this from its most senior

figures who've been quizzed

by members of parliament today.

Here they are arriving.

And they came to say sorry

for the behaviour of some staff

in Haiti in 2011.

That's the chief

executive Mark Goldring.

The MPs wanted to know more

about how Oxfam responded back then

when it found out what was going on.

The charity sacked three employees

and allowed four others

to quit their roles.

Mr Goldring was asked why didn't

Oxfam report its findings

and actions to the authorities.

This was the answer.

Oxfam leaders made

a report to the press.

There was no existing

press interest.

It was not public.

That's serious

misconduct had happened.

They did not describe

that in explicit terms.

At the time people thought

that was being transparent.

We now know that

that was not enough.

There's also the issue of why some

men were allowed to resign

rather than be sacked -

enabling them to be hired again.

Here's Winnie Byanyima

of Oxfam's international arm.

The use of prostitutes in conditions

of poverty and helplessness

and conflict is abuse.

It's exploitation.

It is intolerable

in our organisation.

What happened to let

the country director go away

with some dignity was wrong.

This is something that would not

happen today in Oxfam.

Bear in mind the sacked men not only

found work with other charities -

one was rehired by Oxfam.

This what one MP made of that.

These men were predators.

I quite agree.

I'm not excusing it.

That is why we have now set

up a global database

of accredited referees of Oxfam.

When was that started?

When did you start that?

We have just started it.

You have just started it.

Only because you were found out.

Not because you actually

wanted to do it or thought

you needed to do it

but because you were found out.

We were also told that since

the Haiti story broke ten days ago,

26 more allegations of sexual

misconduct had been come

to light at Oxfam -

some recent some historic.

They are all being investigated.

Meanwhile the BBC has been speaking

to one woman who blew

on problems within cahrities.

She used to work for

a charity called Merlin.

In Liberia, back in 2004,

she walked in on a senior

manager with a local girl.

After an investigation

the man and other senior

managers were dismissed.

One of them was the man

at the centre of the Oxfam scandal

Roland van Hauwermeiren.

Amira Malik Miller was asked

on the BBC's HardTalk programme

if she was surprised that Oxfam

tried to cover things up.

It doesn't surprise me.

It exposes a very strong weakness

in the system and our HR

practices, absolutely.

I think Roland van

Hauwermeiren is a particularly

interesting case study.

He has been able to manipulate

the system for a very long time.

He has chosen to move around

from different countries.

Between organisations.

He knows that it has not

been tracked properly

so he has manipulated that.

Still to come on the programme, we

find out about the soaring rate of

measles in Europe. We will speak to

the WHO about what is causing that.

Jeremy Corbyn has accused papers of

lies and smears.

These papers allege

that Jeremy Corbyn did meet someone

from the Czech Embassy several

times. That story has been picked up

and pursuit in various forms by

newspapers in recent days. Jeremy

Corbyn has hit back in a post on

social media. At what he calls press

barons, the right-wing press. He

says...

He goes on...

This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom.

Our lead story is from Syria.

More than 100 civilians are killed

in Eastern Ghouta today as Syria's

government continues to bombard

the rebel-held enclave.

It is close to Damascus.

Some headlines from BBC World

Service.

New Zealand's military has been

deployed to areas expected to be hit

by the remnants of Cyclone Gita.

It caused extensive damage in Tonga,

Samoa and American Samoa last week.

At the Olympics, Russian curler

Alexander Krushelnitsky has returned

a second positive test

for the banned substance, meldonium.

He had won a bronze with his wife.

He's one of 168 Russian

athletes allowed to compete

after extensive vetting.

Evidently not extensive enough.

The Queen was alongside

Vogue's editor-in-chief

Dame Anna Wintour at a show

during London Fashion Week earlier.

The Queen then awarded the inaugural

Queen Elizabeth II Award

for British Design to Richard Quinn.

You may not know this but there is a

big outbreak of measles in Europe.

These three countries are the most

affected but 12 others are caught up

in this including Greece, Germany

and France. Measles is extremely

infectious causes blindness, brain

damage and in extreme cases death.

We know there were more than 20,000

cases reported last year. That is a

400% increase on 2016. We should say

that 2016 had

400% increase on 2016. We should say

that 2016 had seen a record low.

Here are all the figures. You can

see that 2016 unusually low with

just 5000 cases. What is going on

here? There are shortages of the

vaccine in some countries. Some

people avoid vaccinations for their

children. For instance, in the UK,

confidence in the MM are jab

collapsed in the late 90s.

confidence in the MM are jab

collapsed in the late 90s. That was

by claims made by this man raising

fears that the vaccine caused

autism. There has also been

rejection of vaccines in Italy. This

leader of the... The far right

leader Marine Le Pen has also said

that doctors are to blame for the

rise of the case in measles. If we

go back to 2004, Donald Trump said

that... Autism, in big capital

letters. So there is an issue around

trust here. We have a doctor here

from the WHO, the World Health

Organisation, he is live from

Montenegrin. Thank you for your

time. What can you do to persuade

people to vaccinate their children?

We need to have the parents trust.

Trust in the vaccines and trust in

the authority that deliver the

vaccines. Vaccines are safe and

life-saving. That is the message

that the government should give to

the parents.

In terms of the

situation we are seeing in Europe,

how much of it is to do with

children not getting vaccinated and

how much is it to do with other

factors.

A number of countries have

a number of challenges and they are

very different. In Romania we have

many children who are getting

measles whereas in Italy it is more

the adult population, the average

age of those getting measles is

around 27 years. This is a

reflection of the programme is not

reaching these individuals. The

adults may not have benefited from

vaccination programmes when they

were introduced at the time. In a

country like Romania where most of

the cases are children, this is a

reflection of the challenges they

are facing in recent years. We have

issues, as you mentioned, with

vaccine supply but it is more a

combination of vaccine hesitancy, an

issue of complacency where parents

have not seen the disease and they

do not think the disease is around.

Measles is a very contagious disease

and it can easily enter into a

population that is vulnerable,

causing big outbreaks.

Some people

are looking at 2016 when the cases

were very low. They are thinking

what went right to there?

What went

wrong in 2017 is more relevant. It

is a growing number of susceptible

individuals. If you do not have a

high vaccination coverage, for

measles vaccines you need to have a

very high coverage of 95% with two

doses of the vaccine, then you get a

population of susceptible

individuals. That could be simmering

behind the disease. When measles

virus was introduced then it can

spread like wildfire.

We appreciate

your time. Thank you very much

indeed. He is lies in Montenegrin.

An official with the World Health

Organisation. Walmart has just seen

close to 10% wiped off its value to

do with its profits hardening. What

has gone wrong? While profits are

down?

Profits are down for various

reasons. Walmart says it misjudged

the Christmas period is a focusing

too much on toys and Christmas gifts

and ran out of some of its stables.

The figure that investors are

watching very closely is not the

profit but the growth in online

sales. The reason for this is that

Walmart is in a bruising battle with

Amazon. It its complete with Amazon

online if it will survive as a

retailer. -- competes. Early on in

the year, their online sales drops

to around 23% in the last quarter.

That has worried investors because

they seem to be falling behind

Amazon and that is why their shares

have taken a beating on Wall Street

today.

None of this is new. We could

have been talking about the threat

from Amazon ten years ago.

Presumably Walmart has a plan?

Yes.

It's plan has been to buy up as many

online retailers as it can. It

brought jets .com in the US just

over one year ago. It put a lot of

marketing into those sites. Now what

it has realised and what the CEO

mentioned this morning was that in

order to compete with Amazon, Amazon

has this brand recognised

everywhere, if you think you want

something, the name Amazon points

into your head, they need to

redirect people into Walmart .com

and take them to the big brands and

the brand that people associate with

bricks and mortar stores, they need

people to associate that with the

online brand. So they are taking

their resources away from the

subsidiaries and investing it in

Walmart. But investors are worried

they might not built to do that fast

enough.

In the next half of the

outside source will be hearing from

David Davis, he will say that it is

not like mad Max here in the UK.

Hi there. We will start off with the

weather in the Middle East.

This area of low pressure across the

Middle East brought widespread heavy

rains. The storm clouds are now

rains. The storm clouds are now

across Afghanistan. It takes the

rain and snow with it. To the south

of that weather system, the wind has

picked up and as we went into

Tuesday we had some dense areas of

dust affecting some of the coastal

areas, for example Qatar had poor

visibility for a time. It will take

some time flat dust to settle out of

the atmosphere. Across the United

States there is a weather front

which will be much stationary

bringing huge amounts of rain across

Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Some

parts of these states could see as

much as a hundred millimetres of

rain. So a risk of some flooding.

Bitterly cold air behind that front

and it bumps into the warm air we

have across Florida. Temperatures

will reach 29 degrees or so in

Miami. Very warm as well in New

York. Highs of 21 are incredible.

But eventually that cold air will be

swinging its way eastward. This was

the remains of tropical cyclone

bringing heavy rains across

Australia. More recently we are

looking at the leftovers of this

cyclone which has been slamming into

New Zealand and particularly hitting

the south Island hard. The mountains

of New Zealand have a ready picked

up over 250 millimetres of rain and

the rain will continue as we move

into Wednesday but it will slowly

picked out on Thursday. With all of

that rainfall falling we are likely

to see some flooding. Wind gusts

well in excess of 70 miles an hour

causing damage. Power has been

brought down and a number of people

don't have power New Zealand at the

moment. Thursday it will finally

clear up as strong winds and heavy

rain eased out of the way. At the

same time there will be some

torrential and even severe thundery

downpours affecting Queensland.

Risks of flash flooding as we go

into Thursday. Temperatures picking

up in the Australian interior.

Across Europe, we have a weather

fronts moving eastwards across

England. Now on Wednesday it is

moving back westwards. A lot of

cloud for England and Wales.

Probably brighter in England later

on. More sunshine in France and

Germany. Cold easterly winds as

well. That is a sign of things to

come. Next we will be bitterly cold.

-- next week.

Here are some of the main stories.

Here are some of the main stories.

More than 100 civilians died today

in Eastern Ghouta. The Government of

Syria wants this area back.

Oxfam has revealed that is

investigating 26 more cases of

alleged sexual misconduct. Thousands

of people have stopped making

donations because of the scandal.

As you are watching, if you have

questions, you can reach me on

Twitter.

The Palestinian Leader Mahmoud

Abbas spoke at the UN's

Security Council today.

He wants an international conference

on Middle East Peace in 2018.

Here's some of the speech.

TRANSLATION:

So the outcomes of this

conference should be as follows.

Acceptance of the State

of Palestine as a full member

of the United Nations.

This is what we deserve.

Don't you think we deserve

to be a full member?

Why not?

We call on the Security

Council to achieve this.

An Israeli journalist reported

"Abbas leaves UNSC right

after he finishes his speech

and didn't stay to listen to the

Israeli ambassador who was next."

The Israeli ambassador

opened his speech by saying,

"Once again Abbas is running away

instead of listening

to what we have to say."

This a clip from that same statement

from the ambassador.

Mr Abbas and spoke of your

commitment to peace.

This is what you often do

when speaking internationally.

But when you address your people

in Arabic you convey

a very different message.

A few weeks ago when Abbas spoke

to the PLO central committee,

he called the National movement

of the Jewish people, and I quote,

a colonialist project.

That has no connection to Judaism.

Whether or not that peace conference

happens later this year, listening

to those clips, it will have its

work cut out, you would think.

Absolutely. It was a depressing

morning to watch. The sides were

just as far apart as ever.

As Abbas left to rapturous applause,

he was immediately sealed by the

Israeli ambassador for not staying

to listen to the others. --

immediately assailed by the Israeli

ambassador. What made those comments

all that more meaningful was sat

behind him was the husband of -- was

the son-in-law of the president.

Let us bring up one of the clips

from earlier.

The Palestinian leadership was not

happy with the decision to move our

embassy to Jerusalem. You do not

have too like it or even accept it

but that decision will not changed.

What is the American plan? They have

recognised Jerusalem. They have

staunch and stark language for the

Palestinians. What is their plan

going forward?

They do not have a

plan and that is what the

Palestinians were complaining about.

They are saying they wanted

multilateral mechanism, this peace

conference by the middle of the

year, that frankly want to take

place. They were basically saying

that America's traditional role as

the honest broker between Israel and

Palestine has come to an end. They

do still see an American Robert part

of a larger multilateral framework.

That is what they were calling for

today.

And the money that the Americans

give to the Palestinians, that has

become an increasingly practical

matter in the last couple of months,

has that come up?

One of the things that Abbas

complained about was not only

recognition of Jerusalem as the

Israeli capital told that also much

all of American funding from the UN

agency that protects and routes

after Palestinian refugees. That

this Friday said today they are

looking for another mechanism, not

the traditional mechanism, a

negotiating table that involves many

more countries, but that proposal is

not likely to get off the ground.

The UK Brexit Secretary secretary

David Davis has this

message for people worried

about what will happen

to the UK after Brexit.

He was speaking in Vienna.

I know for one reason or another

people have sought to question our

real intentions.

They think Brexit could lead

to an Anglo-Saxon race to

the bottom, with Britain plunged

into a Mad Max style world borrowed

from dystopian fiction.

These fears about

a race to the bottom

are based on nothing.

Not our history, not

our intentions, not our

national interest.

It's the Mad Max analogy

that is getting the response.

Today with David Davies this was

about reassurance. It seems a far

cry from some of the arguments made

by people in the Conservative Party

and in the Cabinet over the years

and decades when they have made the

case for leaving the EU saying we

have got to breakaway, all this red

tape is no good, it is stifling

British competitiveness. It was not

quite what David Davies was saying

today, pleasing some rules, saying

that Britain had helped shoot them.

The message from him and the message

from Theresa May at the weekend was

about continued cooperation. --

Button had helped shape them. You

are getting the impression things

will not change too much. David

Davies was saying this is about

trust, we will have to trust each

other's different rules and

regulation, the question is will

that be enough for people in

Brussels to accept and more

crucially whether Cabinet ministers

will go along with it.

Adam Fleming has been saying that

you'd leaders will be suggesting

negotiating trade deals with the UK

as they normally would with other

countries.

They were in Brussels for a regular

meeting and I asked them about the

sort of thing David Davies was

talking about and they were broadly

welcoming that they make two points.

This is what the EU does with all

its international partners anyway,

seeing if you follow the rules of

the EU you will get good access to

the EU market stop if you try to

undercut the EU rules or do

something less safely than the EU

want you to do it you will get less

access to the EU market. The second

is that the EU does not operate on

speeches and warm words and edges on

politicians, they want things that

are written down, very detailed, and

legally enforceable. That means

expanding this speech with detailed

proposals about how this would work

in practice. Things like, what

authority would you have that check

that check that both sides were

playing by the same rules and

standards? How would you settle

disputes between both sides? What

punishments and Saxon would be

available if the UK was not sticking

to the rules. Easier said than done.

-- punishment and sanctions. And

this is good together as what is

called a level playing field, LPF,

we will be hearing more about this

in coming months.

If you want and this information on

Brexit head to the BBC website.

And a lot of information on the

other stories covered.

This picture is from Hungary in 2015

- there was a stream of migrants

who entered the country

marching into the EU.

It led to Hungary putting up fences

along its borders.

Victor Orban was Prime Mininster

then - he still is now -

and just last week he delivered his

State of the Union address

with highlighting a critical

division between the countries

in the East of the EU,

and those in the West.

Hungary sits at the Eastern edge -

one of the countries that joined

the EU in 2004.

But it's Mr Orban who's taken

a tough line on migration.

Jenny Hill sent this report

from Hungary's border.

Divisive, defiant, Hungary

is standing its ground.

A border fence, no migrant quotas,

a different vision for Europe.

TRANSLATION: It is thanks

to our political leaders that

Hungary and its people

have a profile in Europe.

People recognise us and they look

at us and they say,

"Hungary, you're OK."

But Victor Orban

unsettles his EU peers.

Don't expect him to stand

down over asylum policy.

The crisis may be over,

but he and his Fidesz Party

are seeking re-election.

This wave of refugees and immigrants

to Hungary and to Europe came

as a heavenly gift to Mr Orban

and to many other

politicians in the region.

They could exaggerate

the potential threats and risks

and then appear as saviours.

Watch out for the dress rehearsal,

local elections in this town.

The Fidesz candidate

expected to win.

Please, a little time for BBC?

How do you justify to voters here...

Even so, he was not

keen to speak to us.

I want to ask you about the EU.

Your party is in

trouble with the EU.

What do you say to those

voters here who depend

on that money so much?

Sorry, I have to go, bye.

Corruption allegations,

xenophobia, Victor Orban's

dream of what he calls

"An illiberal democracy."

TRANSLATION: The only thing they do

right is keep migrants out.

Apart from that they

don't do any good.

They might say the economy

is thriving, but we don't feel it.

The only people who do well

are those close to Fidesz.

TRANSLATION: The courts,

the police, the administration,

they are all under his influence,

and people are scared.

I do not know what will happen

to me for speaking out,

but I am not afraid.

But out here in the countryside,

there is concern.

Farms like this depend

on funding from the EU.

TRANSLATION: The European Union

should not be small-minded just

because it has a quarrel

with the Hungarian government.

It would the irresponsible to punish

a country and its people.

The end result is

the EU falls apart.

For many, of course,

this is all about security.

But the fence has come to define

Hungary and its decision to put

national interest first.

Here on the outer edge of the EU,

it is a symbol of defiance.

After all, this country knows

what it means to be left outside.

Jenny Hill, BBC News,

on Hungary's Serbian border.

Turning our attention back to Syria

now and Russia's involvement.

Observers have long believed that

dozens, perhaps hundreds of Russians

have died fighting in the conflict.

The Kremlin has previously said

the number is five -

including a pilot

who ejected over rebel

airspace recently and killed

himself with a grenade.

Today Russia admitted "dozens"

of Russians were injured or killed

in what's thought to have been US

air strikes in Deir al-Zour

province in Eastern Syria

earlier this month.

The difference isn't just

in numbers - Russia makes

a distinction between military

casualties and civilians.

The bulk of Russian casualties

in Syria are mercenaries -

some working for private companies.

Eugene Alikov was one.

Last September he died here

near Homs killed by a bullet.

The BBC's Russian service has been

investigating what happened

to him.

They've interviewed his mother.

A little earlier I went

and spoke to Oleg Antonenko

from the Russian service

who told me about it.

It is a very interesting story. My

colleagues got in touch with his

mother and she gave us a lot of

documents and the death certificate.

We compared the death certificate

and another death certificate which

was given to a news agency during

the investigation and we came to the

conclusion that more than 50

Russians might be called in

September 2017.

This mother is arguing her son

deserves military honours. The

Russian Ministry is saying, no, he

went as an individual decision, not

sent by his country.

The Russian authority is

straightforward about this account.

They are saying they have militarily

and servicemen there and they know

where they are fighting, who they

died, but fools mercenaries, it was

their decision -- but the

mercenaries, it was their decision.

Ukraine, it is said those were not

our men. They have tried to put a

divide between the state and the

fighters on the globe. That sounds

like something similar could be

happening in Syria. Yes, they are

saying it is not a Moscow initiative

in Ukraine, it's as volunteers.

Alikov was fighting for pro-Russian

separatists in Ukraine also. He

returned to Russia. He got medical

treatment. He went to Syria. He was

probably not sent. He was part of a

private military company. Many

experts looking at the story see

that behind this group is the man

who is subject of recent US

sanctions. It is not proven, it is

speculation. He is the private chef

of the Russian president. He had a

lot of attractive contracts. It is

quite a fascinating story. It has

different sort of connections. On

one side we are hearing of

mercenaries fighting in Syria, on

the other side, this factory trying

to influence American actions, this

person who is the chef of Vladimir

Putin, he is wanted by American

prosecutors. It is incredible, to be

honest with you. It is only the

beginning of the story that we are

looking at.

A Bangkok court has awarded a

Japanese man paternity rights to 13

children he fathered through

surrogate mothers. He is 28 and is

not married, he is the son of a

chairman of a well-known and listed

company in Japan. This is not the

first time he has been in the news.

When he was identified three and a

half years ago as the father of at

least a dozen surrogates children

and there was a great deal of

concern expressed in Thailand and

other countries about what his

motives were. The police here

launched an investigation into

possible human trafficking by him.

He disappeared back to Japan and

very little was known about him. He

is apparently the son of a Japanese

tech billionaire but he has remained

hidden from view.

This photo was released by police in

2014. It shows nine babies found in

the flat of a man after a police

raid. It has been confirmed he was

the father of 13 surrogates babies.

Today the court said he had taken

good care of the infants before

officials took them into their care.

This is a statement from the court.

This is a picture of the man's

lawyer giving the statement. The

Japan Times has courted the lawyer

as saying this.

I think there will still be a fair

amount of unease about what this

man's motors are and what kind of

environment you can provide for so

many children. He says he wants

more, more or less the same age, but

they do not have a mother, they will

be looked after by nannies.

And Washington, DC, and other person

has been charged as part of the

murder investigation into those

alleged links between Donald Trump's

election campaign and Russia. This

is Alex van der Zwaan, a

London-based lawyer, the 19th person

to be charged. The document is

online if you want to read it. It

connects the charges to false

statements.

It is a short statement from The

Independent counsel 's office but it

says that Alex van der Zwaan lied to

the FBI, lied to The Independent

counsel's office about contacts he

had with a deputy campaign manager

during that brief period of time in

the middle of 2016. Dietz stuck

around and worked in the White House

as well. The indictment said there

was an unnamed person, there is

speculation about who that might be.

Alex van der Zwaan is expected to

plead guilty. He had a court

appearance at half past two that I

have not heard if he has pled guilty

or not. What this means is that The

Independent counsel's office is

building a case from the ground up.

This will guarantee cooperation and

puts more pressure on Paul Manafort

who is charged with multiple counts

of money laundering, pressure to

face a long trial and a prison

sentence, or come up with his own

plea agreement.

Any claim is serious and Americans

will want Robert Mueller to pick up

any claim that he sees that the

central claim is where Russia and

the Tramp campaign working together

-- trompe campaign? These charges do

not bring us closer to understanding

bat.

This does not deal with the campaign

at all. These charges against Rick

Gates and Paul Manafort goes back to

lobbying that they did for Ukraine

well before Paul Manafort became

involved in the Donald Trump

campaign. This plea deal was part of

that investigation. The question is,

as this Robert Mueller putting

pressure on these people in order to

get them to talk about other things

more central to his investigation,

so that Paul Manafort could talk

about his time as campaign manager

in the Donald Trump campaign? Or is

this something that Robert Mueller

encountered along the way, evidence

of wrongdoing, he is going to

prosecute it, that is within this

mandate as set forth by the Justice

Department. We will have two weeks

and see if this is one thread going

nowhere or this becomes an integral

part of this investigation.

And whatever comes next in

Washington, Anthony will guide us

through it. As the big stories come

in from the U S, go to the news

that.

That is all for now. Our lead story

is that the Government of Syria

continues to bombard a rebel enclave

near Damascus called Eastern Ghouta.

Observers say 100 people died today

and 100 people died yesterday.